Iraqi troops run into 12 mass graves of Yazidis in Sinjar

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi troops have run into 12 mass graves in west of Nineveh, security source was quoted saying on Wednesday.

“The graves were found in Kojar region, Sinjar. They include bodies of Yazidi civilians who were executed by Islamic State since its control on the town in 2014,” the source told Baghdad Today.

“Specialized teams are removing the bodies to extradite them to forensic medicine department in Nineveh,” the source added.

On Sunday, Fahd Hamed Omar, acting mayor of Sinjar, said the total number of mass graves of Yazidi victims have reached 62 in Sinjar, describing the execution of Yazidis as “the biggest genocide in the modern times”.

On the same day, relics of 24 Yazidis were found in a mass grave in Kesra al-Mei’rab village in the town.

Habitat of the Iraqi Yazidi religious minority, Sinjar came under the international spotlights after IS militants took over the region in 2014.

Many Yazidis were persecuted and held in Mosul by Islamic State, which considered them devil-worshippers.

A study on the number of Yazidis affected showed that at least 9,900 of Iraq’s Yazidis were killed or kidnapped in just days in an attack by the militants in 2014.

Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, have been fighting since October 2016 to retake territories Islamic State had occupied.